HIGHMOUNT — A proposed five-year, $74 million expansion of the Belleayre Ski Center would create 280 jobs and result in twice as many annual visits.

The plan for more ski trails, lifts, lodges and parking areas was unveiled Wednesday by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.

"It's a step in the right direction for the community," said Joe Kelly, a longtime Belleayre activist who is now vice chair of the Olympic Regional Development Authority board.

ORDA took over running Belleayre from the DEC in November, by which time the expansion plan was nearly done.

The project would boost the ski area's annual revenue by $5.2 million and raise state and local tax revenue by $220,000.

Much of the expansion would take place on 90 acres the DEC wants to acquire at the former Highmount Ski Center adjacent to Belleayre. Highmount closed in 1984.

That would allow Belleayre to address its deficiency of advanced- and expert-level ski trails, the DEC plan asserts.

The plan would, in total, add 16 ski trails, three ski lifts, three parking areas, a ski lodge and an information booth. Many of the existing ski lifts and lodges would also receive an upgrade.

Developers said new facilities have been sited wherever possible within already disturbed areas of the Belleayre or Highmount ski areas. Still, 101 acres of forest would be cleared during construction.

The plan has been in the works since 2008, though details of the expansion weren't revealed until Wednesday.

After expansion, Belleayre would employ an additional 200 seasonal and 32 full-time employees at its ski center, along with roughly 45 extra seasonal food service employees. The new full-time workers would make between $26,000 and $40,500 each year, while the seasonal workers would earn an average of $7,500 annually.

The construction plan calls for spending $27 million on utility, snowmaking and parking upgrades, $21.6 million on new and existing ski trails and lifts, and $18.9 million on the ski lodges and information booth. More than $6.7 million is set aside for contingency.

Increased traffic as a result of the expansion would necessitate installing a traffic light at the entrance to Belleayre, developers said. A left-turn lane would need to be added to enter Belleayre from Route 28, while a right-turn lane would be needed for leaving Belleayre.

Average annual attendance is projected to leap from 165,000 at present to 320,000 following expansion, causing yearly revenue to jump from $6.1 million to roughly $11.3 million.

Likewise, payroll, energy and other operating costs at Belleayre are projected to rise from $6.7 million to $10.1 million.

In the end, though, the expansion is slated to take Belleayre from losing an average of $600,000 each year to earning an annual $1.2 million profit.

"This is a long time in coming," Kelly said. "The upstate economy needs an economy."